Ford Xflow bearings
Discussion
227bhp said:
They're all good, I think it's pretty much impossible to buy a bad bearing.
...from a proven quality bearing manufacturer. ACL - Very good now they are back in business, not sure how long it will last.
ACL Race series - Very good, was apparently some fake stuff around but think its all flushed out now supply of new stock is about.
Vandervell (Now Mahle and often badged as Mahle Motorsport) Very good
King - Avoid if they are the same as stuff badged up as County brand for BMC stuff, its cheap for a reason.
King Race Series - OK but have found bearing shell backing very hard(Brittle) and prone to cracking around the tabs and with too much bearing crush, these are both in their selling points.
Your lucky you have a choice.
Many moons ago we called in the 'house expert' from AE to go through some piston wear we were experiencing at the time. He noted we were using the Israel made King Bearings in our A and B series builds( we have used King Bearings for 30 years and have been, and still are, very pleased with the quality and performance). The AE guy told us they bought in samples of other folks bearings for analysis and found the King ones exceeded their own specifications in terms of tolerances and materials, that included Vandervell.
Peter
Peter
99hjhm said:
King - Avoid if they are the same as stuff badged up as County brand for BMC stuff, its cheap for a reason.
I don't know where you're getting this from but I used King bearings for many years in my race engines and they are superb. The aluminium base material they use is far superior to the babbit material used in most bearings. Completely inadvertantly we had a back to back test once of King versus standard babbit in an engine that was being run in unusual conditions. It was a customer who had overbored their engine by 4mm which is crazy past what most blocks will stand. It developed a pinhole in a bore and water started leaking into the sump. I supplied him ACL big end babbit bearings to start with but he damaged two of them during the build and I could only get King at short notice so the engine went together with 2 King and 2 ACL in the conrods.It ran OK for a while and then the block broke through and water started getting into the sump. He soldiered on with the rad cap off so the system didn't pressurise for another year but the sump was still full of water oil mix and he ran it until it died. When it came apart the two ACL bearings were down to the steel shell with no cushioning material left on them and those crank journals were toast. The two aluminium King bearings looked like new despite running on water oil froth as a lubricant. I used them in all my race engines ever after and that's a lot of engines and never a single problem.
They are not only the cheapest out there, they're my preferred choice and they're only cheap because they're trying to get a toe hold in the market place against the competition but I'd back them against any other bearing manufacturer.
Mignon said:
I don't know where you're getting this from but I used King bearings for many years in my race engines and they are superb. The aluminium base material they use is far superior to the babbit material used in most bearings. Completely inadvertantly we had a back to back test once of King versus standard babbit in an engine that was being run in unusual conditions. It was a customer who had overbored their engine by 4mm which is crazy past what most blocks will stand. It developed a pinhole in a bore and water started leaking into the sump. I supplied him ACL big end babbit bearings to start with but he damaged two of them during the build and I could only get King at short notice so the engine went together with 2 King and 2 ACL in the conrods.
It ran OK for a while and then the block broke through and water started getting into the sump. He soldiered on with the rad cap off so the system didn't pressurise for another year but the sump was still full of water oil mix and he ran it until it died. When it came apart the two ACL bearings were down to the steel shell with no cushioning material left on them and those crank journals were toast. The two aluminium King bearings looked like new despite running on water oil froth as a lubricant. I used them in all my race engines ever after and that's a lot of engines and never a single problem.
They are not only the cheapest out there, they're my preferred choice and they're only cheap because they're trying to get a toe hold in the market place against the competition but I'd back them against any other bearing manufacturer.
King have been making bearings since 1960.It ran OK for a while and then the block broke through and water started getting into the sump. He soldiered on with the rad cap off so the system didn't pressurise for another year but the sump was still full of water oil mix and he ran it until it died. When it came apart the two ACL bearings were down to the steel shell with no cushioning material left on them and those crank journals were toast. The two aluminium King bearings looked like new despite running on water oil froth as a lubricant. I used them in all my race engines ever after and that's a lot of engines and never a single problem.
They are not only the cheapest out there, they're my preferred choice and they're only cheap because they're trying to get a toe hold in the market place against the competition but I'd back them against any other bearing manufacturer.
PeterBurgess said:
Many moons ago we called in the 'house expert' from AE to go through some piston wear we were experiencing at the time. He noted we were using the Israel made King Bearings in our A and B series builds( we have used King Bearings for 30 years and have been, and still are, very pleased with the quality and performance). The AE guy told us they bought in samples of other folks bearings for analysis and found the King ones exceeded their own specifications in terms of tolerances and materials, that included Vandervell.
Peter
Peter I guess these are the HD Tri-metal ones which I have used myself and not the budget ones available from MG suppliers which are also probably not what Dave is referring too? I notice Minispares don’t sell any budget bearings anymore. Peter
I had a long chat to the UK distributor of King Bearings and now ACL too, Engine Parts UK. There are 8 grades of bearings King manufacture and they openly admitted some are better than others.
99hjhm said:
I had a long chat to the UK distributor of King Bearings and now ACL too, Engine Parts UK. There are 8 grades of bearings King manufacture and they openly admitted some are better than others.
Not necessarily better, just different bearings for different jobs and some will work better in some circumstances and not others. It's like the old trimetal V Bi-metal debate, people always want an expensive tri when a cheaper bi will do a better job if the oil supply is cut off momentarily.
Not necessarily better, just different bearings for different jobs and some will work better in some circumstances and not others. It's like the old trimetal V Bi-metal debate, people always want an expensive tri when a cheaper bi will do a better job if the oil supply is cut off momentarily.
Gassing Station | Engines & Drivetrain | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff